I Really Like the Male Supporting Character (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 2
Together, the group walked to the chamber in which the imperial physician and the maids of the Su family were waiting for them. This place was an unfamiliar environment for Wenren Jin. As such, he walked very slowly and fumbled a little as he put the girl in his arms on the bed.
She still held onto his waist sash with such strength, like it was her life-saving straw.
Su Luoyan’s personal maid tried to grab Su Luoyan’s hand, but Wenren Jin stopped her and said, “I’ll do it.”
Wenren Jin carefully untied his waist sash. Because he couldn’t see it, he accidentally touched the girl’s finger and found that her delicate and cold hand felt like jade to the touch. He took off his waist sash and put it down, along with the girl’s hand still gripping it, and then politely withdrew from the chamber.
People were waiting outside the chamber. Wenren Jin was led to another chamber to change his clothes.
There was another person in that chamber; it was the crown prince, Gu Xiuyan.
Wenren Jin saluted and greeted him by saying, “Your Imperial Highness.”
Gu Xiuyan famously had a cold and arrogant personality. He had a handsome face with sharp facial features, along with a tall and imposing stature. His appearance was accentuated by his time in the military; a simple, narrowed gaze from him could intimidate anyone now.
Except, perhaps, Wenren Jin. The young man, who was dressed in white clothes, met Gu Xiuyan’s stare with clear, bright eyes that held no trace of fear or unease.
Gu Xiuyan scoffed. He extended his arms to allow the maids to help him change into fresh clothes. He completely ignored Wenren Jin in a show of evident arrogance.
After changing, he threw out a cryptic remark to Wenren Jin. “You better truly be blind.”
Then, he turned on his heel and strode away.
Wenren Jin remained unfazed. He took his time changing out of his wet clothes. After learning that the two young misses who had fallen into the water were unharmed and had been taken home by their family’s servants, he felt relieved.
Given the incident, the banquet could not continue, and the guests began to take their leave.
Wenren Jin was also being led away. His hearing was sharper than the ordinary people; as he walked, he picked up the hushed conversations of those who had not yet departed around him.
“Did you see? The crown prince didn’t hesitate to save Su Baiwei; he didn’t even glance at Su Luoyan. And Su Luoyan is his betrothed!”
“Hush. Be careful with your words. This will surely stir up trouble in the capital.”
“I just pity Su Luoyan. I used to envy her for becoming the future crown princess, but now her betrothed has been ensnared by a cunning little vixen. That scheming concubine-born sister of hers will surely enter the crown prince’s residence after today. Poor Su Luoyan was foolish enough to jump in to save her. She’s been rescued by the marquis of Yuanting’s heir instead, and her reputation is ruined now. If the crown prince uses this incident as a reason to break off their betrothal, what will become of her?”
“You never used to like her. Why are you so concerned about her now? She can just marry the marquis of Yuanting’s heir. He’s blind, but I don’t think the two of them would make a bad match despite that.”
“Don’t you know? He can never marry her…”
The voices gradually faded away, and Wenren Jin lightly furrowed his brows.
***
Ah Luo leaned weakly against her bed. She looked helplessly at the elegantly dressed middle-aged woman beside her. The woman tightly grasped Ah Luo’s hand, crying her heart out. She said, “My poor daughter, to encounter such a disaster! Now your reputation is ruined. What will become of your betrothal to the crown prince?”
That was right. The beautiful woman in front of Ah Luo was Su Luoyan’s mother, Lady Yao.
“Mother, it was all my own fault…”
Ah Luo lowered her eyes. She had just woken up, and her face and lips were still pale. She bit her lips gently. Suddenly, she felt a little sad.
This body was truly beautiful, with well-defined and graceful features. Her eyebrows and eyes were also perfectly picturesque.
However, she was the legitimate daughter of the
She was the betrothed of the crown prince—the future crown princess, and the future empress. As such, she had been educated differently compared to ordinary noble daughters. She carried herself with composure and never dressed ostentatiously. Her attire was always mature and conservative, and her hairstyles were always old-fashioned and rigid. With them, she was always dignified but lacked a youthful charm.
After she fell into the water, all her ornaments were removed, and her long hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. Her pale face and her porcelain-like skin created a stark contrast against her long black hair. It gave her the appearance of a pure and simple beauty.
At this moment, Su Luoyan no longer looked as she usually did; her appearance suddenly reminded everyone that she was only a sixteen-year-old girl, and one that had just had a moment of distress, at that.
The woman glanced at her helpless daughter. Then, she took her into her arms before turning her gaze towards the outside and bitterly cursing, “It wasn’t your fault, my daughter. That little wench girl has been plotting against you for many years; I really underestimated her. If she wishes to enter the crown prince’s residence, she will need my permission, but she’s caused my daughter so much suffering. I won’t let her have her way even if I die.”
As Ah Luo listened to the woman’s angry words, she looked towards the door. Although she couldn’t see, she knew that someone was kneeling outside—it was the novel’s female protagonist, her half-sister, Su Baiwei.
Su Luoyan and Su Baiwei were both daughters of Grand Tutor Su. Su Luoyan was Grand Tutor Su’s legitimate daughter, born from his legitimate wife. Besides Su Luoyan, Lady Yao had given her husband a son: Su Luoyan’s older brother. Meanwhile, Su Baiwei was a concubine-born daughter—the only one that Grand Tutor Su ever had.
In most ancient romance novels, the female protagonist lived as a pitiful little girl before she met the hero. Her father didn’t care about her, and her mother didn’t love her. In the first half of her life, Su Baiwei, the female protagonist of this world, also lived such a life.
Su Baiwei’s mother, Lady Liu, was once Lady Yao’s personal maid. When Lady Yao was pregnant, an incident happened; Grand Tutor Su got into Lady Liu’s bed. Lady Liu became pregnant with Su Baiwei after that one-time encounter.
Grand Tutor Su felt very guilty about what he did. He and Lady Yao had been childhood sweethearts, and they’d had a very close and affectionate relationship throughout their entire marriage. He’d never kept any concubines; in fact, he never had any other romantic relationships, even before he had married Lady Yao. He didn’t even have any of his servants serve him in his bed. (1-7)
The entire capital knew that Grand Tutor Su was a henpecked husband.
Lady Yao was, of course, infuriated. However, despite that, she still elevated Lady Liu to the status of a concubine.
Lady Liu was sensible and tactful. She remained submissive to Lady Yao and never caused any trouble for Lady Yao over the years. Since Lady Liu behaved this way, Lady Yao was subsequently willing to tolerate her presence. However, Lady Liu and her daughter were still unfavored by the grand tutor, as well as his legitimate wife—Lady Yao. Their lives in the Su family’s residence were only a little better than that of the servants.
Over the years, they remained inconspicuous. No one expected that Su Baiwei could be secretly having an affair with the crown prince.
What happened at the grand princess’ residence spread quickly. Within half a day, many knew that the two misses of the Su family had fallen into the water there and that the crown prince had disregarded his betrothed to save her betrothed’s own concubine-born sister. The evidence was irrefutable; the incident had been witnessed by many.
It was a huge scandal; how could two sisters compete against each other for the same man?
Moreover, the only reason that Su Baiwei—a concubine-born daughter, had been able to attend the grand princess’ flower-viewing banquet was because she had asked Su Luoyan to bring her along. After her sister took her there, Su Baiwei actually plotted against her sister to try and snatch away her sister’s betrothed; such an act of treachery and ingratitude was truly despicable.
Upon returning to their family’s residence, Su Baiwei kneeled in Su Luoyan’s courtyard to plead for forgiveness. Lady Yao was worried about her daughter and furious because of what Su Baiwei did. As such, Lady Yao didn’t tell her to get up and just let her kneel there.
Ah Luo said, “Mother, please tell her to leave. She also just fell into the water earlier; if she continues to kneel, the cold may get to her and she may fall sick.”
Hearing this only flamed Lady Yao’s anger further. She said, “Look at how much she’s made you suffer. Why would you still speak for her? My daughter, I know that you are patient and you have a broad mind. However, some people are like rats in the gutter. Be kind to them, and they’ll bite you in return. The world is full of awful people; sometimes, you need to be ruthless to protect yourself.”
“Mother, what happened is now in the past; I don’t blame anyone for it,” Ah Luo said to comfort her mother. In a low voice, she then continued, “Mother, send her back. If other people saw her, they might say you’re mistreating your concubine-born daughter.”
Ah Luo wasn’t a saint; she wasn’t the kind of person who’d repay evil with kindness. She only asked her mother to send Su Baiwei back because of the plot point that she knew would come after this.
In the original storyline, the female protagonist returned home after the noble heir rescued her. Then, not long after she returned, the male protagonist paid a visit to her family’s residence. He said that he was there to see the female supporting character—Su Luoyan. However, as usual, he went straight to the female protagonist’s courtyard after looking at how the female supporting character was doing for a bit.
Ah Luo remembered that this plot point was a rather dramatic one.
The male protagonist asked the female protagonist if she had fallen in love with the noble heir and if that was why she had thrown herself into his arms. In response, the female protagonist complained about how the male protagonist was too late to save her. She had done this all to marry him; however, he misunderstood her and accused her of something untrue, which hurt her heart very much.
After some time, their conversation was reduced to a ‘let me explain’ and ‘I don’t want to hear it’ kind of conversation.
The female protagonist now had a ruined reputation. Given the circumstances, she couldn’t be with the male protagonist. The crown prince, in a fit of anger, forcibly took her, and the two first slept together right there and then.
The most dramatic part was that, just like her mother had gotten pregnant with her from a single encounter, the female protagonist got pregnant from this one encounter.
The male protagonist was initially planning on giving up on the female protagonist. However, she turned out to be pregnant! The plot shifted from a secret romance to the ‘pregnant wife on the run’ trope. As the crown prince chased after his lover, they soon developed a love-hate, sadomasochistic relationship.
Later, the female protagonist married the noble heir who saved her. It took her a lot of effort to hide her pregnancy. The novel described it this way: she claimed that she had contracted a chronic illness after falling into the water that day, and as such, couldn’t be intimate with her husband. They lived separately, and she stayed in her own courtyard. She completely refused to see him.
The noble heir took pity on her. He was considerate of her ‘frailty’ and always treated her with utmost courtesy. He even went so far as to find rare plants, such as a thousand-year-old snow lotus flower and lingzhi mushrooms, to better the female protagonist’s health.
The female protagonist continued locking herself in her courtyard until an entire year had passed. Then, she came out of her seclusion with a child, who she said that she had picked up from somewhere. Even then, the noble heir continued silently accepting everything that the female protagonist figuratively threw towards him.
It was rather tragic. The male supporting character was thoroughly taken advantage of. Moreover, the green hat that the female protagonist put on him was no longer even a hat. The top of his head was so green that it could probably become a pasture and be used for horse riding. (1-8)
This part of the novel also made countless readers deeply dissatisfied and infuriated; they felt that the female protagonist was too deceitful, and didn’t deserve the love and protection that the perfect Wenren Jin gave her.
At this moment, though, Ah Luo didn’t have the time to pity the noble heir. She was worried that when the crown prince came, he would see Su Baiwei kneeling in front of her courtyard. He might become angry because of it and take her anger out on her and Lady Yao. After much effort, Ah Luo finally persuaded Lady Yao to send Su Baiwei away.
Coincidentally, not long after Su Baiwei left, Gu Xiuyan came to visit Su Luoyan.
Ah Luo stood up to greet him, but Gu Xiuyan immediately stopped her.
He said, “Yan’er, why are you being so polite? Soon enough, we will be married; there’s no need for us to be so polite to each other.” (1-9)
Ah Luo had expected him to say this. Gu Xiuyan was the kind of person who was very concerned about his image; as the crown prince, it was best for him to appear magnanimous and unpretentious. The incident that happened earlier today must have affected his reputation. However, his nature made it unlikely for him to call off the engagement, regardless.
After all, Gu Xiuyan thought this way: if he couldn’t marry the woman he loved, then it didn’t matter who his wife was.